American record companies began releasing cassette singles on a large scale in 1987, when vinyl recordalbum sales were declining in favor of cassette recordings; the cassette single was meant to replace the 45 record in a similar way.[2]

The format was used as a promotion in the 1990s, with Disney giving a "cassingle" to attendees of Hercules promotional events.[3]

A relatively modern cassette single (by Tatu) in an O case packaging. This single is sold only in the O case and does not have an insert

Originally, most cassette singles were released in a cardboard sleeve that slipped over the outside of the release. This was then usually shrink wrapped in plastic. Some singles contained one song on each side, much as 45s had done, but others repeated the songs on both sides. In some markets, cassette singles generally used the same packaging as standard cassettes, a plastic box with a paper insert.

As the cassette maxi-single was released, more intricate packaging was incorporated that looked similar to the packaging of a regular cassette release. These were placed in regular plastic cassette cases with a paper/cardstock insert. Unlike a full-length cassette album, these were generally only one two-sided inlay instead of a fold-out. Maxi-singles usually contained four versions of a single song, i.e.: unique mixes & edits, but some contained versions of two different songs.

Although the cassette had reached a high level of popularity by the late 1980s, due to the ubiquity of mobile devices such as the SonyWalkman, the boombox and car audio cassette players, cassette singles never rivalled gramophone records to even near the same extent as cassette albums had done. In the U.S., cassette singles were completely phased out by the early 2000s. One reason for their lesser popularity was because they appeared to be an inefficient use of the media to consumers - a cassette single took up the same storage space as a full album. In April 2013, however, psychedelic rock band MGMT released the first single from their third album as a cassette single, and October 2014 saw the cassingle "Great Big Happy Green Moonface" from Polaris, the band's first release in fifteen years.